Compatibility with Win computer on network

[lakelover]

I destroyed the windows partition on my dual boot computer when I tried to resized the c partition. I'm turning blue trying to restore windows wihich I don't use much anyway. So, I'm thinking dedicating this computer to Mandriva Linux. My question is: how do a safely expand the Linux partitions to the complete hard drive without destroying Linux as I did Windows? Jerry

[ianw1974]

I've had this problem. Was Windows on the hard disk before the Linux partitions?

 

If so, you might have problems. From everything I read, you can always extend, but at the end of the partition. Not from the beginning to move it to where XP was. So if left to right was Windows --> Linux, then you probably got your work cut out here!

 

I never got round to figuring it out, I just reinstalled, was far simpler. Just make sure you back up your data.

[theYinYeti]

I don't have much time, but in short:

 

If you had Windows on A and Lin on B, and you want Lin on A+B, then you can move Lin to A (see a thread of mine about moving Lin from a disk to another disk), and then delete B and extend A until it is A+B.

Good luck;

 

Yves.

[lakelover]

Yves. . . Thanks for your reply. I read your thread and I'm afraid I'm not computer/linux savy enough to understand and execute the process you explain. I'll probably limp along with what I have, or just wipe the drive and start over with a fresh Mandriva 2006 install.

 

Jerry

[jboy]

I'll probably limp along with what I have, or just wipe the drive and start over with a fresh Mandriva 2006 install.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Idea - if you think you might want to experiment some with different distros and/or versions, consider using that spare space for that purpose.

 

Depending on the size of your hard drive, it may be wasteful to use it all for just one Linux install. One general recommendation is that the root partition doesn't need to be bigger than 6 gigabytes.

[lakelover]

That's a good idea which I may do, however, I finally got WinXP back up and running. My drive is only a 30gb. I had given the bulk of it to Windows and I thought the Linux partitions were beginning to fill. That's why I reduced the size of the Windows partition and got into trouble. Except for the fact that my wife has Windows running on a notebook, and we're networking I'd probably shake off Windows on my computer. If I can be sure her computer will talk to mine running on Linux then I'll probably cut loose from Window.

 

By the way, I think I read someplace that the swap partition is not necessary, today, with the greater memory in computers. I have 512 mb. What do you think about the need for a swap partition?

Jerry